Conquering the cretins
by OrangeLovePerson
Summary: Just some Maiko-fluff, set soon after the war. Zuko has to deal with quite a lot, and Mai's there for him. :)


_**Conquering the cretins  
**_

It was almost midnight, probably, and Mai was still fast asleep next to him.

They'd spend the evening talking and not talking, looking outside and looking at each other. And then, at one point, he'd pulled her close, his fingers clinging to her many robes, behind her back, and she'd looked up at him in his second-favourite kind of half-smiles. She'd let her head fall to his shoulder and rested it there. And then, she'd fallen asleep, after a while. As far as Zuko was concerned, things were perfect, right now.

Things weren't perfect really often.

In fact, most of his time felt rather unpleasant at the moment. Being a freshly appointed, new and immensely young Fire Lord wasn't exactly a nice job. It was a big honour, but it also meant more stress than any other job in this nation involved, probably. There were so many appointments, deadlines, schedules and duties, each and every day. Everyone wanted things, everyone needed things, everyone demanded things. Sure, he could pass responsibilities on, he could find people to do stuff for him, he could put some matters aside for a little longer. But as soon as Zuko got rid of one task, another one lurked around the next corner, and another one, and then another one. There were almost no breaks, but he was about to reach his own breaking point, if things stayed like this for another few months.

"I don't know, Mai.", he'd told her earlier, quietly confessing his exhaustion to her, and only her, really.

"I actually thought, ending the war was the difficult part, but on some days, things are just so..."

"Boring?", she'd suggested, and he'd raised his head out of his hands to look up at her, next to him. There was the tiniest twinkle in her eyes, although the rest of her face still remained slightly contorted with worry. He smiled at her, and the corners of her mouth twitched. They both could still remember the last lame political gala dinner from a few days ago pretty well, where several dozen important generals and councillors had needed to be greeted by Zuko throughout the whole evening,- Mai staying close to his side and nodding politely whenever someone looked at her.

Polite nodding wasn't really one of Mai's strong suits though, and some of Zuko's personal consultants had already mentioned something about him "better keeping a little distance towards that sulky-looking young Lady, at least when publicly observed". Zuko had politely explained to those people that Mai would stay as close to him as she liked, as long as he had something to say in it, and that any other advice like that might end someone's carrier as a royal consultant pretty quickly.

No, Zuko didn't want to keep Mai at distance. He didn't want to keep her away from the boring political events, from the way-too-long council meetings or the almost unbearable many trials about all kinds of conflicts. In fact, Zuko wanted her around almost every waken moment of the day, as selfish as that was. Having annoying people around him and facing troubles was just so much easier when she was around, to feel annoyed and troubled with him. Underneath the rather unemotional surface, that was. Somehow, Mai really was around, quite often.

Somehow, she endured the bureaucratic mess he currently lived in, and was right there. Adorably twisting her knifes underneath the table, and sometimes, when the situation permitted it, even sneaking her elegant fingers between his in a warm touch. She was his favourite councillor, more honest and smart and sarcastically funny, than anyone of these tomfools could ever get. And really, the mere thought of listening to those sometimes angered him, still. After all, he was only human. And if his father had been allowed to cruelly and crazily betray even his own countrymen, at times, in order to reach his aims, then Zuko definitely was allowed to spend some time with his girlfriend, alright?!

Now, as he looked down at her, peacefully dozing against his shoulder, he couldn't help but to stare at her. She was just amazing, and anyone in their right mind would want to have her at their side. He'd always been someone to crave soleness, primarily, to have room for his thoughts and his feelings, and his avoidance of those. But now, after so much sorrow and time without her, he found himself mostly craving Mai.

Her lips moved, in her sleep, quietly voicing something inaudible between their light, rosy form. Her skin was paler than paper, her ebony hair was flowing down her skull to cover her slumbering face partly. She looked so relaxed, so contented in her sleep. And some part of Zuko, - the same one, that was usually in charge for the secret dreams of a long, long future with her, - was believing, that she looked so unwound because of his own proximity to her.

As he reached down, to gently place a long wisp of hair behind her ear, her lashes fluttered, and then she blinked confusedly up at him.

"Hey.", she murmured, raspily.

"Hey", he answered, a chuckle in his words and in his eyes.

She looked around, without taking her head from his shoulder.

"What is going on?", she quietly wondered. He actually chuckled then.

"We were eating dinner, earlier, don't you remember?"

"Yeah", she nodded, still sleepily, "But why hasn't someone woke me yet?"

"You mean, the servants?", Zuko wanted to know, and she nodded, again. Sometimes, when there was a really important activity in the morning, the servants would knock on Zuko's door more often then necessary, hinting, that it might be time to go to bed soon and for Mai to leave. He was pretty sure that that was another thing his many advisers were arranging, and it infuriated him. He wasn't a small child any more, he was the ruler of a whole nation, of THIS nation, to be accurate, and no one was allowed to interfere with his relationship.

"Don't worry", he told Mai, softly stroking the back of her slender wrist with his thumb, "I took care of that. Talked to the servants about being a little less... invasive, in the future. I'm pretty sure things will get a less complicated for a while."

She actually looked impressed by his effort, probably happy that he found time for such measures between everything else he had to do.

"Well, that's good. Thank you.", she mumbled, breathing against his shoulder. "I should probably go, though. You have a really long day, tomorrow, you know?"

Zuko sighed. "Yeah, I know."

"Sorry for reminding you.", Mai added. "Why didn't you just wake me up, look at how dark it is outside by now."

"Didn't really look outside, all that much.", Zuko explained, grinning at her. She rolled her eyes, but snuggled slightly closer to him at this. A small silence spread in the room.

"You don't have to go, if you want.", he then mentioned, hopefully. "I mean, you're obviously tired and..."

"Zuko, think about what the servants might gossip about if that happens again.."

"If what happens again?", Zuko laughed, already knowing what she was on about.

"If they see me leave your rooms in the morning."

"What, are you worried about what your parents might say if they hear about such rumours, Mai?"

"No, I'm just worried about our new Fire Lord's reputation, Zuko.", she said, shrugging, and if he didn't knew her so well, he might have bought that expression of casualness. But he didn't.

"Mai, please.", he whispered, suddenly feeling really passionate about the whole matter. "Please don't go, okay?"

She looked at him, for an instant, light amber eyes locked onto his slightly darker ones, and her face was so close that it didn't take her that long to reach up and kiss him, a second later.

Her lips where warm and tasted like fruit tarts, - they mostly did after they shared a dinner, since she was almost obsessed with fruit tarts and since he was most definitely obsessed with her. And he held her face between his hands, as she kissed him, and perhaps he grabbed her too hard for an instant when her little tongue grazed his bottom lip, but he just couldn't help it. There was this little sound she sometimes made, too, this little mixture between a whimper and a moan, so quiet, that he almost thought to have imagined it, the first few times he'd heard it. It absolutely drove him crazy, every time. When their mouths parted once again, she looked a little flushed, and he fought to catch his breath already.

"So...", he pondered aloud "Will you stay?"

She actually did, that night.

* * *

 _A.N.: Hi guys! :) Thanks for reading, thanks for reviews and support! I really need to catch up on my Maiko-love, so there might be some other stuff coming pretty soon. I also don't know yet wether there will be a second part to this, or wether to leave it as a one-shot, we'll see. Have a nice day or night and thanks again for all feedback! :D_


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